Residents face uncertain future after west Ventura fire

CINDY VON QUEDNOW/THE STAR
A fire Wednesday night in west Ventura displaced 13 people. Some residents returned the next morning to gather belongings.

Ventura County Star

CINDY VON QUEDNOW/THE STAR
A fire Wednesday night in west Ventura displaced 13 people. Some residents returned the next morning to gather belongings.

Ventura County Star

CINDY VON QUEDNOW/THE STAR
A fire Wednesday night in west Ventura displaced 13 people. Some residents returned the next morning to gather belongings.

Ventura County Star

CINDY VON QUEDNOW/THE STAR
A fire Wednesday night in west Ventura displaced 13 people. Some residents returned the next morning to gather belongings.

Ventura County Star

Gabriela Vargas said she went to the back of her west Ventura home Wednesday night to get some medication, and when she turned off a light, the bulb gave off a small spark.

She thought nothing of it because it had happened before, but before she knew it, the area was on fire, Vargas said Thursday.

“It all happened so quickly, I couldn’t get anything out of the house,” she said in Spanish.

The fire in the 100 block of East McFarlane Street was reported about 8:40 p.m., damaging an older, wood-exterior, craftsman-style home that had a two-story addition to the rear and was divided into at least two units. Officials said three people lived upstairs and 10 people lived downstairs. The fire was extinguished in about 45 minutes, according to the city of Ventura Fire Department.

The American Red Cross put Vargas and the 12 other displaced occupants up in a hotel for the night. But her children, ages 18,16, 13 and 7, were so affected by the incident, they couldn’t sleep, she said.

The following morning, with the smell of smoke still in the air, Vargas returned to see what she could salvage. Meanwhile, contractors cleaned up debris and boarded up windows.

“The only thing I can say is thank God my kids are OK,” Vargas said. “Material things come and go.”

Vargas called her husband, who is working out of town, to give him the news Wednesday night. “He was sad and wanted to know if we were all OK,” Vargas said.

Now, she is concerned about where she and her family will live.

The owner of the property, Maria Botello, said it didn’t appear that the downstairs unit, where the Vargas family lived, would be habitable any time soon.

Botello said her daughter-in-law alerted her of the fire Wednesday night and she arrived at the scene when it was almost out. “I was nervous and I was scared to see what had happened,” Botello said Thursday in Spanish.

She said she has owned the property for about nine years but is not sure what she can do to help Vargas and her family.

Jason Karpk, spokesman for the Red Cross, said case workers will give the family guidance on finding new housing, but no additional services or housing has been scheduled after Friday.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation, said Ventura Fire Battalion Chief Doug Miser.

He said there were a lot of electronics in the area where the fire appears to have started, “but we don’t have a smoking gun.”

He said the two units were connected by what appeared to be a small living area and a garage.

The upstairs home was yellow-tagged, meaning there was no indication that anything was going to collapse. “Our primary focus at this point is that people are taken care of and that the Red Cross is watching out for them,” Miser said.

He said the top unit might still be livable after some repairs, but the downstairs will “need serious restoration.”

Renato Cortez, who lives in the upstairs unit, was home when the fire started below him. “I started panicking,” he said Thursday.

Cortez said he tried to put out the fire with a water hose, but the flames spread quickly.

“Living on top doesn’t help. It catches fire like a treehouse,” Cortez said.

Luckily, Cortez said, the damage to his home was minimal and he hopes he and his family can move back in soon.

Two small dogs also lived in the home. One was found, but the other was still missing early Thursday. Anyone with information on a Jack Russell terrier found in the Ventura Avenue area should call 339-4300.